Photo by Franci

This is the 3rd year I’ve been going to this race and it’s one I always look forward to.  There’s always a great vibe at our MTB Series events, especially this one.  Last year a racer came through the start finish with a flat and one lap to go.  He left with two tubes and ended up using one and giving the other away.  I was standing with small group of riders who finished and were at the start/finish cheering on the rest of the field.  The flatted rider told us he wasn’t going to finish the race because he was out of tubes.  Before I knew what was happening there were people pulling his wheel off, running for tubes and searching for a pump.  That rider finished the race and and we waited to make sure.  That’s what it’s all about!

Seeing familiar faces and talking with friends right before ripping it up on a great course always makes for an awesome weekend.  The Ansbach Crew always hosts a top notch event and this year it was even better for two reasons: the course had some new sections added and there were no paintballer guys shooting near the race.

In the past the course has been dry and fast.  There are always the two big climbs which were always riddable and a long stretch of single trail going back out onto the road that was a blast to ride.  They were both still there this year, but both were pretty slick.  At dinner that night we were talking about the race when out of nowhere came a downpour that lasted almost all night.  Hmm.

I knew getting out fast was going to be key because most riders would be forced off the bikes for the first part of the initial climb and I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic.  Four riders got out before me and three of them disappeared until I saw them at the finish line.  The Kenda Dread Treads did a great job of keeping me upright in the turns, but after a whole night of rain even running up the hill was a challenge.

The second climb was just as muddy so off I went, bike in hand running up the hill and jumping on before a nice piece of single trail with some off camber turns and a sudden climb that took us out into a field then onto a road.  The rest of the course went by some construction on fire roads for about 2km before getting inot some freshly cut trail right before the start/finish.  The sudden changes made getting from the big ring to the second ring quickly important and the Next crankset didn’t dissapoint.

I felt pretty good on the second lap and I still had some left on the third.  I turned it up a bit and was able to reel in  a rider right before the finish to come in 4th overall and 2nd in the Men’s Open cat.  The rest of the team did really well and we took home 3 more podium finishes at this race.  Another great event.

A huge thanks to Race Face, Kenda Tubes and Tires, Volvo and Service Credit Union for the faith and support!

Next week: Rodenbach!